City Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan), chair of the council governmental operations committee and a software developer, applauded de Blasio in a statement.

"Equality of access to knowledge is a necessity for any free society," Kallos said. "Mayor de Blasio's plan to expand broadband access to the information superhighway is essential for a 21st century city that has ignored equality of this fundamental resource for far too long."